Dear All,

The following is forwarded to the list for your info.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: CFP, Globalization, Islamisation and Gender
From:    "Baptiste Coulmont" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:    Mon, July 12, 2004 4:43 pm
To:      [log in to unmask]
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Globalization, Islamisation and Gender

>Call for Papers: Farzaneh
>
>Globalization, Islamisation and Gender:
>The Middle East and North Africa Region
>
>
>For a special issue on Globalization, Islamization and Women we are
inviting scholars to submit a paper on the topic. The issue is an attempt
to understand the situation of women under the current conditions of a
rise of support for political Islam as well as globalization.
>
>Comparative macro data on female employment indicate that there is a
growing rate of employment for women in both the formal and the informal
economy throughout the world, but in the South in particular. The rate of
employment of women has grown faster in the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) than in any other region of the South. This accelerated rise in
employment has been coupled!  with  increasing support for Islamist
movements throughout the MENA region. It is therefore important to
understand the impact of two growing phenomena that are highly complex
and multi faceted. Common stereotypical beliefs about the effect of Islam
are that it has a negative impact on women. Such an assumption cannot
explain the steep rise in female employment in MENA. The proponents of
neo-liberal policies claim that growing employment for women is the
result of free market expansion and that it is empowering for women. They
argue that paid work outside the home breaks local traditional ties and
it provides women with access to resources independent of patriarchal
family arrangements and it therefore generates autonomy to women.
>
>Clearly if the two processes, one which is supposed to disempower women,
i.e. Islamization, and the other which is supposed to empower women, i.e.
globali!  zation  are at work then something extremely contradictory is
happening. It is perhaps time to revisit these assumptions by way of
detailed macro- and micro- level analyses of the changes of employment
for women as the result of globalization and its implications in the
context of rising support for Islamism. In order to develop a better
understanding of the reality of what is
>happening to women in MENA there is a great need for documentation of the
changing nature of female employment in the formal as well as the
informal sector of the economy.
>
>Given the fact that there is relatively little work on female employment
in MENA, Farzaneh invites papers written by scholars who address the
issue of globalization and Islamization focusing on two seemingly
unrelated  questions:
>
>1. If Islamization is categorically negative toward women, then how can
we understand an accelerated!  rise of  employment for women in the MENA?
>
>2. Rising employment as the result of globalization has undoubtedly
altered women's access to economic resources. Has this increase led to
female empowerment and female autonomy?
>
>
>Below is a list of suggested more specific themes.
>These themes are by no means exhaustive of the topic and the editor
welcomes ideas and abstracts on related issues.
>
>There is a need to understand the nature and extent of change in the
employment situation of women and their implications for women in the
following areas:
>
>* In some countries of the region, the economy has been opened to direct
foreign investment and free trade zones (FTZs) have been established.
Documentation of such (changes in) policies as well as their implications
for family structure is much needed.
>
>* Increasing education among women in the region has!  led to a  rising
percentage of skilled female workers in traditionally male-dominated jobs
(physicians, chemists, engineers, university professors, etc.)
>
>* Some women have entered into low income and typically "unskilled"
male-dominated jobs such as taxi driving; the extent and the rate of such
transformation needs to be examined.
>
>* Globalization has increased the size of the informal economy throughout
the world and many women are working in this sector. There is little
quantitative or qualitative data on this part of the economy. Activities
in the underground and black economy such as sex workers in metropolitan
areas as well as smuggling at the periphery of trading areas remain
greatly under-researched.
>
>* Women's experience with rising Islamization as well as increasing
working opportunities for pay outside the home is different in different
parts of the region.  Therefore, comparative analysis of employment at
the macro level between countries with different economic dynamics and
different types of Islamist movement can be highly important in
>understanding the complexities and interactions of globalization and
Islamisation.
>
>* There is little data on women's employment in the region in the rural
sector of the economy. Rapid urbanization and impoverishment of the
agricultural economy under the forces of globalization are changing rural
MENA rapidly. This has an impact on female paid work outside the family
as well as unpaid work for the household.
>
>* To what extent, if at all, has increasing employment for women reduced
or altered their work inside the house as mothers and wives (this aims to
examine changing nature of women's reproductive work)? If there has been
a change, how has this affected power relations within the  family?
>
>* With the implementation of a free market economy, there has been an
increase in the rate of inflation and rising prices of basic goods which
has in turn forced many families of low income to rely on two incomes
rather than one. This has left little choice for women but to seek
employment in the lower end of the occupational ladder.
>
>* With the expansion of the market economy there has been a trend toward
the break-up of the traditional family structure in the region. The
decline of extended family networks and the shrinking of the social
safety net and community support have forced a rising number of
female-headed households to cope with growing poverty and income
disparity. Documentation of the type of work these women tend to engage
in is vital.
>
>* Neoliberal economic policies have led to a decline of the welfare state
and public services. How has this  decrease affected women's employment
inside the home as homemakers (their reproductive role as mothers and
wives)? Women of low-income families have to provide for the sick and the
elderly in the context of the privatization of public services and this
process needs documentation.
>
>* The declining role of the state in the economy and worsening conditions
for the poor have mobilized many women to form NGOs. Such groups often
rely on women's volunteer work which is unpaid. To what extent has this
trend empowered women, if at all?
>
>* Many women have joined Islamist groups and work as volunteers for such
groups which have become active in poverty alleviation. As poverty
increases such groups expand. What is the impact of increasing
involvement of women and to what extent, if at all, has these women's
involvement in Islamist movements altered their views about the status of
w!  omen in Islam? Can this provide some understanding as to why there
has been rising support for Islamic and Muslim feminisms?
>
>The editor invites quantitative as well as qualitative work. Research on
the informal economy, for which official data are non-existent, is of
great interest. For the purpose of this special issue we adopt an
extended definition of women's work beyond paid employment to include
their role as unpaid family workers as well as volunteer workers. Women's
volunteer work is of particular interest since it is generally absent
from conventional macro-level analyses even though it has proved to be of
great importance to state programs such as family planning.
>
>Selected papers will be peer reviewed. Papers finally selected through
this process will be published in a special issue of the journal.
>
>Deadlines: Abstracts (strongly encouraged not obligatory) 300  words.
Final paper submitted for review – September 05, 2004.
>Publication Date in Farzaneh –February 2005.
>
>Queries regarding journal guidelines (paper length, format, etc.) and
submissions should be sent to Roksana Bahramitash
>[log in to unmask] and cc to [log in to unmask] 
Final
>acceptance or rejection will be based on a review of the final paper.
>
>Roskana Bahramitash
>
>Guest Editor, Editorial Board Farzaneh
>
>E-mail address: [log in to unmask]
>
>First floor, No 1 Golbarg-e Panj (Fifth Golbarg) alley,
>Golsar Str., Golriz Str., Kharazmee Str., Molasadra Ave,
>
>Tehran 14359, Iran
>
>Tel: 00 98 21 803 06 37
>
>Fax: 00 98 21 803 58 93
>
>Web site: http://www.farzanehjournal.com
>




-- 
Sharon Smith